"I've ripped off Bob for years."

Mojo

Dave Grohl talks to Keith Cameron

You've made another album with Butch Vig, 20 years after Nevermind...
"Anyone who's ever seen Nirvana play knows that Nevermind was the result of Butch Vig making us sound bigger and better. He's a master of simplification. He takes the most important parts of the song and uses only those. I wanted to make a Foo Fighters album of 11 songs, straight to the point and you can't get 'em out of your head once you've heard them."

Was it an emotional process working with Krist again?
"Of course. Having Krist play on the record is a lot more personal than musical. The song was almost irrelevant: the most important thing was we got to share that moment. And the fact that Pat, Krist and I had never been in the studio together. Pat never got to record with Nirvana, outside the Unplugged gig. It was fucking beautiful."

How did you get Bob Mould involved?
"I was a huge fan of Husker Du. Their album Zen Arcade is one of the most underrated American rock''roll records of all time. And only recently did I realise how much I've ripped Bob off for the last 16 years! I met him for the first time last summer and said, You know I'd be nowhere and nobody without your music, right? And he very politely nodded and said: 'I know' (laughs). We swapped phone numbers and became friends. I had this song that I imagined would be a duet between us, and he obliged. What an honour to have that sort of moment with one of your heroes."